


Humanity to Ashes

by orphan_account



Category: Fallout (Video Games)
Genre: Canon Compliant, End of the World, Nuclear Warfare, Nuclear Weapons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-24
Updated: 2019-10-24
Packaged: 2021-01-02 01:37:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21153449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: October 23, 2077. The day the world burned. This is the story of two who helped fan the fire.





	Humanity to Ashes

**Author's Note:**

> My attempt at something more poetic in honor of today being the fictional day.

October 23, 2077

Sterling, Colorado

7:14 am local time

DEFCON status: 2

"Yes sir, I understand. We are on standby and awaiting your further orders. I will update him." Major Clara Farris hung up the red telephone. She breathed deeply, hands shaking. "They have possible launches, Mike. DEFCON 2 has been declared."

Captain Mike Stanton raised a fist to his mouth. 

"God let this be a mistake. We're to launch if it isn't, right?" His voice shook.

Farris nodded. Her fingers delicately began to tap at the keyboard, scarcely daring to press the keys. She entered the information of the city they were to seek revenge upon. Bejing, China. Population: 34.5 million.

Stanton caressed a photo of his wife, beaming with pride and supporting her very pregnant belly. They were going to have twin girls in a month. He'd spent weeks getting the house ready, baby-proofing everything, painting the girl's room, making sure Sue could get around comfortably. He was going to see her tonight. She swore on whatever god was watching over him.

* * *

7:26 am local time

"No. No no no no. God no, please." Stanton muttered in vain. "Damn everything. Straight to hell. FUCK!" He shattered his coffee mug on the desk.

China had launched nukes. America was to respond.

"Here's your key, Captain" Farris spoke barely above a whisper as if at a funeral. That wasn't far from the truth.

"No. We don't launch. What's the point? Kill innocent people because their government went mad?! Fuck that!" His eyes were red with tears, his voice cracking. No one signed on to be a missileer expecting the call to come. In the back of everyone's mind, they knew it could happen. That they would be the ones to pull the trigger on the biggest gun in the world, its sights on a major city. 

"If we don't retaliate, they win. We'll be gone and those commie _fucks_ will march into what's left of this country and take over. We need to turn these keys." Farris didn't know what she believed. Part of her begged and pleaded her to throw the key away, walk home to her sister and watch the end together. The other burned with revenge. Revenge for the millions China was going to kill. Revenge for her sister. For the very country she served. "Your family Mike, China just murdered them. What are you going to do about it?" She held out the key again. A small titanium trinket that would let loose a 36-ton weapon of mass destruction. 

With a shaking hand, Stanton took the key. 

Farris tapped in the last few commands. Two covers sprung open. The weapon was primed. 

Two keys slid into their slots with a slight click. Two heavy breaths were let out.

"On my mark." Farris looked to Stanton, hand on her trigger. Stanton looked back, eyes bleary, but steeled with resolve. "Three. Two. One. Mark."

And that was it.

* * *

Five seconds after the key turned

The missile roared from its underground silo like a beast finally let loose of its bonds. Rockets spewed dragon-like fire from its end, illuminating the predawn hours. Its mission was out of the hands of men now. 

* * *

One minute after the key turned

The missile jumped forward, its first stage falling back to the Earth. It will slam back into the country that loosed it, no more caring than the warheads of what lies below. Split seconds later, the second engine ignites pushing the weapon ever faster to damnation. 

Farris stares blankly at her screen.

Stanton's tears leak through the hands on his face. 

* * *

Two minutes after the key turned

Another stage unburdens itself from the missile. Space is within grasp.

Farris wrestles a pistol from Stanton's hand.

* * *

Three minutes after the key turned

The final stage breaks the bonds of the atmosphere, entering that great expanse only a brave few have ever graced. It is guided solely by arithmetic, its target nothing more than a calculation.

Stanton screams as his bullets perforate the console. Farris begins to cry.

* * *

Fifteen minutes after the key turned

Six warheads aim themselves. They release from their platform. Gravity is their thrust now. The very Earth they so violently fled now beckons them home.

Stanton dials his wife again. Farris and her sister say nothing.

* * *

Twenty-one minutes after the key turned

The warheads scream towards their fate. The air burns around them as they tear through the atmosphere. China comes into view beyond the clouds.

Stanton begs God for forgiveness. Farris curses the same God.

* * *

Twenty-two minutes after the key turned

Within the warheads, precisely packed explosives detonate. The very atoms of plutonium are forced closer together. Neutrons break off and begin to chain react.

Stanton finds a can of rat poison and some tea bags. Farris asks for a glass.

* * *

For the most infinitesimal of moments, something beautiful happens; a star is born. A star much like our own, with all the power to give life to a rainforest, to warm a tropical beach, to wake us each day. This star is born in the most populous city on earth just 10,000 feet above, turning night into blinding day. The star can no longer contain its own energy and lets go of its own life. And 5 million more.

* * *

Thirty-three minutes after the key turned

The fortunate ones are turned to atoms in an instant. Next best off are those turned to dust by the pressure wave. Millions will not be so lucky. They are trapped under scaling debris, their skin seared off by the hear, shrapnel embedded in their bones. Radiation is already tearing their cells apart. They'll die, cell by cell. Some it will take hours, most will suffer for days. Above the deafening roar of fire, the wails of sirens, and crumbling of buildings, there is the indescribable horror of suffering. Mothers hold what's left of their children, children beg for their father back, friends pray for something to be left. 

And then the second warhead hits. And the third. Six fall on Bejing from Sterling. Eighteen more are gifted from America. Bejing has become a memory.

Farris and Stanton raise their glasses, they clink together. But fate has other plans. The ground of the silo is rocked, the walls crack, and radiation seals are shattered. China did not stop their armageddon but has instead brought it to the Americans.

* * *

178 years, 24 days, two hours, nine minutes after the key turned

The door cracks open and off green light pours through. A man in curious makeshift armor shimmies in, a homemade rifle to his shoulder. The light from his wrist bounces off dusty screens and catches something shift in the darkness. 

Two creatures lunge at him, growling with twisted screams and swiping with withered hands. He fires. 

The assailants fall, dead. He puts one more bullet in each head. 

"Fucking ferals." He mumbles. 

It doesn't take long for him to find nothing of value here. An empty 10mm pistol, rusted over dog tags, some unusual keys. He pockets the weapon and keys, may be worth something to someone.

He looks in one last time as he squeezes out. The air is still and silent. Peaceful at last.

**Author's Note:**

> I really like the Fallout series and think it has a lot of good things to say about war and specifically nuclear war. I wanted to try and capture the opening moments of the Great War in a small scale way. 
> 
> Comments and constructive criticism are of course welcome.


End file.
